From a young age, Isamu Akasaki was fascinated by light and crystals. Growing up, his father, a Buddhist altar craftsman, gave him different kinds of ore—each with its own color and shine. Those early moments watching shimmer and glow helped plant the seed for a lifelong curiosity in how materials glow and how to grow crystals that can emit light.
He studied chemistry at Kyoto University starting in 1949. During that time, he made a promise to himself to do something no one had ever done before. Many years later when he learned that no one had succeeded in creating a blue LED (light-emitting diode) he remembered that promise and decided he had found his calling. After graduating in 1952, Akasaki worked in industry and later academia.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, many scientists tried and failed to make a really bright blue LED. LEDs depend upon the materials inside them, crystals that convert electricity directly into light photons. Finding the right material to emit blue light and working out a way to grow the crystals to a useful size and shape without defects was incredibly challenging. Akasaki, kept pushing. He used the material gallium nitride (GaN) which was very hard to grow into big enough crystals without defects.
Akasaki studied ways to grow GaN for many years. He started at the Matsushita Research Institute Tokyo, Inc (MRIT) in the 1960s. When the manager at his company decided to stop the blue LED research in 1981, he moved to Nagoya University and continued. There he started working on a new crystal growth method. By this time, most researchers had given up on GaN. They thought that growing the crystals was too difficult and that GaN could never support certain types of electrical behavior (particularly p-type conductivity). Professor Akasaki said it was like, “going alone in the wilderness.”
Akasaki was not one to give up easily. He kept going and developed techniques to grow high-purity GaN films and control both p-type and n-type conductivity—critical steps for building LEDs. Eventually, his research led to the first functioning blue LEDs and ultraviolet LEDs using GaN-based materials.
Blue LEDs might sound small, but they completely changed how we light the world. They made bright, energy-efficient white LEDs possible. These now power everything from phone screens to streetlights. His breakthrough was recognized worldwide: he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 (shared with Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura) for efficient blue LEDs, enabling bright and energy-saving white light sources.
Akasaki was passionate not just about discovery, but about sharing and pursuing knowledge. He mentored generations of scientists in semiconductor crystal growth and optoelectronic device development. He often encouraged his students to leave their comfort zones, urging them to think globally and bravely pursue new ideas—even if they felt alone in their thinking.
Why He Inspires Us:
Isamu Akasaki turned what seemed “impossible” into a discovery that lit up the
world. His persistence shows that even when you feel alone in your ideas, bold
curiosity can change billions of lives.
Learn more:
https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/about/honors/international-awards/nobel-laureates/akasaki/interview
NAE Memorial Tribute:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/26799/chapter/3
Born: January 30, 1929 - Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan
Died: April 1, 2021 - Nagoya, Japan
Family: Spouse, Ryōko Akasaki; 2 children
Education: Doctor of Engineering degree from Nagoya University
Known for: Inventing the blue light-emitting diode (LED).
Isamu Akasaki studied a single crystal for many years when others had given up. But his persistence paid off: his techniques made possible the blue LED, which in turn enabled white LEDs—and modern displays, screens, and efficient lighting everywhere.
